Our little scrapbook of our family's life as we learn, love, and laugh together.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Mounds of Stuff!

Ah, summer... School's out, work is done, and it's time for the beach, right?

Well, maybe not.

We planned this little renovation project where we kind of, sort of, tore out the entire kitchen (including one of the walls) and the flooring and are putting in a brand new kitchen.

It's a good thing we like eating out!

Anyway, with long hours going into a renovation and school being out here at our house, my kids are going stir-crazy. (Their friends are still in school, so they count down the hours until 3:30 when kids start showing up at the neighbourhood park.) I'm finding myself way busier than in the last few months.

Add to that a little impromptu editing (watch for the updated edition of my friend's book to come out... I edited it!) and some big-time preparation for a week of Family Camp (preparing four days of lessons, picking music, getting campfire talks ready for the little kids, and putting together crafts and devotions for the cabin of girls I'm bunking with)... Well, it seems I just haven't made time to share things on here!

You wouldn't believe the number of times I've composed posts for this blog in my head. Just today I was sweeping up some drywall crumbs from the patio before dinner (so we could eat on that same patio) and wrote an entire post in my head about these delicious cookies we've been enjoying lately.

And, well, I guess that stuff up there that you just read is my way of getting to the point that I really do want to write these days. I just haven't made time.

Anyway, my daughter wrote recently about our new attitude towards food. I am making a great effort to avoid highly refined food products. White sugar and white flour have barely been used in this house since we got back from our mid-May vacation. We're enjoying many more veggies and fruits and I'm looking at new desserts for when we're hit with the sweet tooth.

(The one thing we haven't totally given up is ice cream. It sure was a nice treat for our last day of school on May 30!)

So where was I? Right, eating less processed foods.

I found this lovely recipe for something called Paleo Disappearing Mounds Cookies. Don't get thrown off by the "Paleo" part. I'm not much into one diet or another, I just like Mounds bars. So when I heard that these cookies were better for me than other cookies, I wanted to give them a try.

I've made them four times now and am ready to share my slightly-altered but better-for-you version. (Bear in mind that you can adjust this recipe all you like. It won't bother me. You can even use all the sugary stuff that you have in your house. I'm not eating them; you are.) This recipe has no sugar. And it has no processed sweetener. It is totally, naturally sweetened.

Wanda's Mounds Bar Cookies

1 egg

1/2 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup natural, unsweetened peanut butter

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

3 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup pureed dates*

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 F (or 335 F, if using a convection oven.)

Mix all ingredients well. Spoon 1 Tbsp of dough at a time onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Roll and flatten slightly with a fork or spoon or hammer or anvil or the palm of your hand or some other flattening agent.

Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes. If you make these bigger, cook them longer.

At 1 Tbsp a piece, this recipe makes about 24 cookies.

I made this recipe with 1/2 cup of unrefined, organic sugar today. My husband enjoyed the cookies that he ate. Then I made them with pureed dates (which was super-easy to make - I'll fill you in after these messages) and my husband said he liked them better. If you recall, this is the husband who HATES dates.

*So, to make the pureed dates/date paste, just take a handful of dates, maybe 3/4 cup, add 1 Tbsp of water, and spin them through a food processor. If you want to make more at once, add more water. It's pretty simple. And sweet.

There you have it! A guilt-free treat for the Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Sugar-Free people in your life. (You can make them vegan by substituting for the egg with 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 3 Tbsp water.)

Thanks so much for sharing this fabulous recipe! "If" I was in the mind to make cookies, I would definitely be interested in using this particular recipe, because of there being NO sugar in them! I will be saving this one!